


You Can't Outrun Your Emotions

by mythic0wings



Series: After the End [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Awesome Pepper Potts, Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Not Canon Compliant, Peter Parker Has Nightmares, Post-Endgame, Protective Pepper Potts, Tony Stark Lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2020-03-13 09:07:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18937825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mythic0wings/pseuds/mythic0wings
Summary: Peter wakes up from a nightmare and goes out as Spider-Man.





	You Can't Outrun Your Emotions

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kilala2tail](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kilala2tail/gifts).



> So my friend, Kilala2tail, requested this. I could not resist. I need more Pepper and Peter now. 
> 
> Also, Tony is alive. Not WELL, but ALIVE. Because I have feelings and these feelings will not abide.

“Your vitals are elevated, are you in danger Peter?” Karen chimed in his ear.

Peter swung his feet forward releasing the string of webbing to fire off another. Wind whipping past him as he quickly picked up speed. “Nope, no danger. Just some late night exercise, why would I be in danger?” He sputtered despite his sweaty skin and pounding heart. Emotions strung tight and plucked in discordinant sequences. A song played wrong climbing his stress higher and higher.

“Past accounts say otherwise, you spend weekday afternoons seeking out danger.” Karen intones without scorn. “Should I call Mrs. Potts?” Even as she asks, a window pops up with Pepper Pott’s face.

Peter’s panic spikes and he violently shakes his head even as he lands atop a building that smells of _so many_ foods. “No, no, no! That’s okay, don’t call Mrs. Potts. I’m fine, just fine, completely! See? Do another scan, I’m sure it’ll come back fine.” It won’t, he already knows it won’t. Why can’t he just calm down! Stupid emotions!

Another screen flashes up over the pop-up for Mrs. Potts. Showing several long-winded chemical names in higher than normal levels. Even for him. “Unless you have discovered a new definition, you are not fine Peter.” Karen tells him.

Peter covers his face with his hands, pacing as he takes in a deep breath. Trying to settle down at least a little. If he calms down, Karen doesn’t call Mrs. Potts and no one has to have a meltdown. He paces and breaths for two whole minutes before Karen speaks again.

“Would you like to talk about it? Your reaction to this stress is atypical of your usual behavior.”

She’s right, she’s kind of always right. She’s a computer designed by Tony Stark _for him._ It still takes a moment every time it occurs to him. That he wears something engineered by one of the smartest people on Earth and he’s still going to High School. His breath catches for a moment, his heart still chugging away in his chest.

Then it’s gone and his whole body deflates, collapsing heavily in the middle of the roof. His legs coming up to his chest so he can grip his knees in his hands. He’s not rocking back and forth - _yet_ \- but he feels small so he wants to _be_ small. “It’s noth- it’s…” He starts, tightening his grip on his knees. Reminding himself to keep breathing as the dream comes back. The whole reason why the suit’s time clock is flashing almost 3 in the morning at him from a corner. His heart, which was just starting to calm, picks up again.

He can tell Karen, she’s made to help him. It’s impossible to keep her up too late, she’s never quite developed the personality F.R.I.D.A.Y. has so she won’t sass at him. Chewing his lip behind his mask he tilts his forehead into his fingers. “I just had a nightmare and, and I didn’t want- I couldn’t stay in the apartment.” He stutters, squeezing his eyes shut as a shiver runs down his spine.

While he doesn’t see it, he hears the very soft click of the pop-ups closing. “The whole mess with Thanos, it’s- it’s been a while. Coming back into that fight with Dr. Strange, to Mr. Stark, after…” He trails off again digging his toes into the loose gravel of the rooftop. “Mr. Stark is getting better, he’s awake a lot of the time now even!

“But uh, he, he almost _died_. He lost his arm, his shoulder.” Peter has to stop and breathe, feeling the heat in his face, the stinging in his eyes. It takes a while but Karen stays quiet through the whole process.

He loves Karen, she works so well with him. Ned told him that she’s meant to learn with him and adapt to his needs which was later confirmed by Mr. Stark. Karen ends up listening a lot. He knows he’s a chatterbox, that there are times when he doesn’t really know how to shut up but Karen never chastises him for it. She just lets him go.

“In my dream he, he didn’t make it. I didn’t even get to say goodbye to him. He was gone so _fast_ .” Despite his efforts, he has to pull the mask away from his eyes as tears threaten to damped the material. They dripped down his face, not quite a stream as he scrubbed at his eyes. “Then I kept remembering being a part of the void, I-I didn’t really even have a body and it felt like it lasted for forever but also not and it was so weird and so strange and, and-” His words start to run together and he has to get up and pace again. Fingers digging into the base of his neck in his nerves. “And I was scared, it felt like the Vulture all over again but _worse_. Did I tell you about him? No, no, sorry. I’m distracting myself. Different story, him.”

There’s an itch to start swinging again but he resists it to instead balance along the edge of the building. The words getting both easier and harder, the part of him that runs first and thinks later still reluctant to share. “Losing Mr. Stark would have been like Uncle Ben all over again. And that, that was awful. I still miss him so much.” Peter’s chest aches as he says this, curling his arms around his middle. His feet coming to a stop on a corner of the building. Wet sniffles preventing him from speaking while he works over that old hurt and the burst of raw emotional pain it still brings. Knowing it almost happened to Mr. Stark prolongs it.

Karen finally speaks again, her mostly flat, robotic voice comforting. “That is a lot you’re processing Peter. Do you feel better, sharing?”

Peter, after a moment, does feel less on edge. Less like he wants to run forever. Clearing his throat and wiping his eyes again he nods. “Uh, yeah, thanks Karen. I do, I do.”

“Do you still wish to not call Mrs. Potts?” Karen asks in his ear.

It’s now nearly 4, but Mrs. Potts does wake up _really_ early to manage Mr. Stark’s company. When he spent the odd weekend working with Mr. Stark she would be gone a lot of the time but would always be gone before they woke up. Chewing a corner of his lip Peter pulled his mask back over his face. Stepping off of the building and into a swing.

“Yeah, call Mrs. Potts.”

 

By the time he reaches Mrs. Potts temporary home -having moved back to the city for Mr. Stark- she’s waiting for him on the balcony. She’s still in her pajamas but nurses a cup of strong smelling coffee. It makes his nose itch a little but he gets over it quickly. Landing lightly on the security railing he crouches next to Mrs. Potts. Not quite sure what to say after their short conversation on the way here he just nods. Rubbing his hands together to keep them from being idle.

Pepper offers him a small smile, picking up a steaming mug from a tall side-table beside her. “Made some cocoa, just for you Peter.” Her voice is soft, conscious of her sleeping daughter in the suite, but Peter hears her just fine.

Peter accepts the drink, flexing his fingers around the warm ceramic mug. Reaching up he hesitates before removing his mask entirely. Knowing his face probably looks awful after confessing to Karen. But he doesn’t want to turn down the drink and it does sound super nice right now.

Pepper, upon seeing his face, put a hand and his cheek and hummed sympathetically. “Oh Peter.” She didn’t go further, didn’t try to reassure him.

He thanked her mentally for that. In the back of his head he remembers Mr. Stark’s face when the inventor couldn’t sleep for days at the time, how haunted it was. Peter absently wonders how often she had to comfort him post-nightmare.

Now though, he sees that sleeplessness echoed in Mrs. Pott’s face. She still comes off warm and safe and secure, but there is a tiredness to her. So he offers her a smile, shifting to sit balanced on the railing. Sipping from his mug. “I hope I didn’t wake you, you uh, sounded sleepy.”

Pepper chuckles at that, withdrawing her hand to her own cup. “No, just before coffee. Would you like to come inside Peter? I doubt the railing is very comfortable.” She offered, gesturing toward the doors.

Peter shifted, shrugging. “If it’s not any trouble. You’re a busy woman and I wouldn’t want to wake-up Morgan. Sleep is important, very important.”

Pepper moved closer to him at that, gently guiding his head onto her shoulder. Excellently groomed nails running light lines over his scalp. “Morgan would be beside herself to see her favorite brother, Peter. But no, she’s fast asleep.” She reassured him.

Peter wets his lips and twitches his head in a ‘no.’ “Thank you Mrs. Potts but uh, I’m good. Here.”

“I’m going to get you to call me Pepper, Peter.” She tells him, giving his head and shoulders and little squeeze.

This brings a breath of laughter from Peter and he leans into her touch. Letting a quiet fall between them. The quiet lasts for what feels like a while, Pepper combing her fingers through his hair while they drain their cups.

It’s nice, this quiet. Not that his Aunt May never hugs or cuddles with him, she’s great for those. She never turns him away actually.

Tonight however, he doesn’t want to wake her. He hasn’t been sleeping super well and she’s having trouble now too, worry keeping her up. He already worries her a lot.

The first signs of morning light appear before Pepper pulls away and sets empty mugs on the side-table. “So, you left your Aunt May a message where you were right?”

Peter stills, the sleep creeping up on him vanishing. Eyes wide he looks sidelong at the mirthful Mrs. Potts and mutely shakes his head.

He was going to be skinned alive while the prideful lioness watched.


End file.
